MILAN – It’s not often that furniture defines the space that surrounds it – unless the design is by OMA’s research division AMO. In the studio’s latest design for the Prada Men’s Spring/Summer 2019 Fashion Show earlier this month, Verner Panton’s inflatable stools become the main architectural element of the space.


‘From an architectural point of view, the spatial elements of a show design are quite limited, so the furniture is central to the guest’s experience of the show,’ say Giacomo Ardesio and Giulio Margheri of AMO. ‘We often choose specific furniture to define Prada’s sets – some iconic ones were the blue foam ones from the Spring/Summer 2012 show, or the beds in Autumn/Winter 2017. This season, the themes were transparency and plastic materials.’
One could argue that Panton’s work is part of Prada’s DNA
A collaboration between Verpan and Prada, the transparent cube-shaped stool is an exclusive revival of an iconic design by Verner Panton from the 1960s. ‘The minimalism and simplicity of the stools fitted the themes well,’ say the designers, and ‘their proportions gave us the idea to use a regular grid to organize the overall space, which led to the set design we named Cartesian Space.’